Is it possible to supply power to just the PC case?

paul7799Aug 15, 2012, 12:57 PM

I just bought the Zalman Z9 Plus, and the first thing I want to do (before I transfer all my parts into it) is create a switch for the fan LEDs since I know I'm not going to want them on ALL the time. I figure this would be easiest to do when there's nothing in the case so I have plenty of room to work with. However, I need to power up the case so that I can check the polarity of the LEDs and in order to do this, it needs to be power in some way. I would really prefer to not have to put everything in it just for this task.

So is there any way to supply power to just the case with no components? Or can I at least just power up the mobo and case?

As long as you're just plugging the lights and fans into the power supply I don't see why it wouldn't work. A lot of people do hardware power tests before installing their parts into their case but they usually have all the hardware for the motherboard (processor+heatsink, video card, etc.) installed before doing so to check it all at once.

Wait, I just realized, I could probably just use a battery couldn't I? I mean theoretically, there's no data being transferred, all it needs is power for the fan to spin, and so I can supply that with a battery, although maybe there is some data because you can control the fan speed when it's plugged into the mobo, so...

http://www.techwarelabs.com/guides/misc_mod/psumod/ Is what you need, then just connect the fans to the molex, although I think you may need 3pin to molex cables as you need a motherboard for the 3pin fans. If you are doing a case transplant cant you just plug the fans into the current case?

http://www.techwarelabs.com/guides/misc_mod/psumod/ Is what you need, then just connect the fans to the molex, although I think you may need 3pin to molex cables as you need a motherboard for the 3pin fans. If you are doing a case transplant cant you just plug the fans into the current case?

lol that's a GREAT point! ya I can lol, thanks a lot! Although, I've discovered a new problem...after removing the sticker on the fan, I discovered that the fan's PCB is shrouded in plastic. The LEDs are in the plastic as well, and the only thing I can actually get to is the wires coming out of the fan that connect to the PSU or mobo (some are molex, others are 3-pins).

You can always add more LED lights to the existing wiring and glue them down to the fan shroud and then wire those to the switch, can't you? It'd be even brighter, but only when the system is running! :P